December starts the baking season for cookies and other confections. You may bake for your family or give baked goods wrapped in clear plastic and tied with bows as gifts. Sharing a baked item from your kitchen gives a personal touch to gift-giving.

Somewhere along the way vanilla became associated with the idea of being plain. That’s not the case if you’re using good-quality fresh vanilla beans. We get inspired to start baking when the King Arthur Flour baker’s catalogue arrives in the mailbox every December. There are products, ingredients, and recipes for baking ideas. You can request a catalogue here to get ideas for the season.

One of the things that changed the way we baked in the kitchen was when we started experimenting with different ways to lend vanilla flavor to cookies and other treats with a variety of vanilla beans. There are subtle differences to vanilla beans grown in different regions and they change the way you can use vanilla flavor in your baking. Look for products that contain real vanilla beans from Madagascar, Tahiti, or Mexico, or a combination of beans.

The most popular vanilla extract is Madagascar Bourbon. Think of it as your classic vanilla taste for an all-purpose vanilla extract. It provides a rich and familiar vanilla flavor to baked goods.

You can also try Tahitian Vanilla Extract which provides a more intense and aromatic vanilla flavor. Tahitian Vanilla Extract is good for use in airy desserts like pastry custards and sauces. This extract can be described as having a touch of fruity flavor with notes of cherry.

Mexican Vanilla Extract is said to be the best in the world according to King Arthur Flour. These vanilla beans are creamy and spicy all at once. It’s a more complex vanilla presence in your baked products.

We also like to use Vanilla Bean Paste. This is a thick mixture of the inside of the vanilla beans. The consistency is perfect when you want a more concentrated taste of vanilla, as in homemade ice cream, and it provides the distinctive flecks of bean in the ice cream.

Try your hand at making your own vanilla extract. Get some Madagascar vanilla beans sold in stay-fresh glass jars. Use about a dozen vanilla beans and split them down the center with a knife. Stand the beans in a Mason jar and fill with plain vodka. Cover and store in a cool, dark place for about four weeks.

Share this idea with the bakers in your life or wrap up a jar for a hostess gift. Explore the subtle differences in different vanilla beans and you’ll certainly never think of them as plain.

Alice Knisley Matthias is a mom of two boys who love to trade weird-but-true facts. She writes about food, family, education and garden. She loves to cook and to grow fresh herbs, and believes in an organic lifestyle for her family in the kitchen and the garden. Her work has appeared in Eating Well, Highlights for Children, Boys’ Life, Chicken Soup for the Soul, What to Expect, Cook n’ Scribble and an America’s Test Kitchen Cook’s Country Cookbook. She is the author of herbinkitchen.com and a regular blogger for KIDS DISCOVER. Find Alice on Twitter: @AKnisleyMatth

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